A Very Different Neighbourhood Reception

Our house warming party

I have been surprised by the difference in the reception we have received by our Thai neighbours between our old neighborhood and our new one.  In our previous neighbourhood we weren’t able to really get to know any of our Thai neighbours at all.  We tried to great them whenever we saw them but apart from a polite greeting, they did not really want to engage with us at all.  However, in our new neighbourhood, our Thai neighbours have been much more friendly and we know more about them in our first month of living here than we did in 8 months of living in our previous home.

What could explain the difference in reception.  Perhaps one reason could be that in our previous neighbourhood we lived in there was a large number of missionaries or expats renting and in our small street, half the house would have been missionaries or expats.  Due to the transitory nature of the work missionaries and expats are involved in, there is a lot of moving in and out of these houses.  The Thai neighbours who live there may have experience this and are not willing to engage with the foreigners who they know will not stay long term.  That is understandable.

In our new neighbourhood we don’t have any missionary or expat families living in our surround streets (except for one man with a Thai wife).  The family who had lived in our house had been in it for 10 years.  So they are have not experienced the same amount of change in foreign families moving in and out.

Also, we made the effort to have a house warming party and personally go and invite all our neighbours.  Although only 3 households actually came and stayed at the house warming party, many came with gifts and an apology of not being able to make it. 

So although being close to so many other missionary families had it benefits in terms of friendship for our kids, it had a detrimental effect on our relationship with our Thai neighbours.  We feel so much more connected in our new neighbourhood and look forward to getting to develop our relationship with our neighbours.